CHAPTER 89

* WEAVER’S ROAD *

“I need a plan B, and that’s you,” Becky said confidently to Melvin as they stepped out of the translift and continued toward Council Hall. “Bernie told me about your abilities. You can make yourself invisible, right?”

Melvin nodded slowly. He, Bernie, and Becky were walking at the back of the group, a few steps behind the others as they followed Harsale. “Well, sort of, it’s really more complicated—”

“Melvin, time’s short, you can explain it to me later,” Becky said brusquely. “I just need to know if you can do this?”

“Do what?” Melvin asked, already looking hesitant.

“We don’t know if Ashley’s idea will work. She’s never tried it before, so if she can’t get the Book of War, I need you to do it instead.”

Melvin stopped in his tracks. “What?”

“Basically, sneak up to wherever Davron is, and take the book without him knowing it,” Becky clarified before realizing Melvin was frozen in place.

“I can’t do that. Just because I can make myself invisible doesn’t mean I won’t be noticed. I’m still solid. How am I supposed to reach Davron with all of those monsters?”

Becky shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out. Just wait until he’s distracted.”

“I don’t know…”

Bernie clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You told me last night that you wanted to find a way you could help. This is your chance. We can’t all fight like Jandor and the others, but we can do our part.”

Melvin nodded again. “Okay, I’ll try.”

“That’s all I’m asking,” Becky said. “Be careful and don’t do anything too risky. Like I said, wait for an opening. If it gets desperate, I’ll make sure one happens for you.”

“All right, I’m going to head back to the manor then, I need to meditate first to get into the right head space.” Melvin doubled back as the rest continued forward after Harsale.

***

Melvin was adept enough at the shadon mentus skill of imperception to be able to do it at will, but that was only if he wanted to disappear for a few minutes or less. To make the effects last longer, he needed to focus so that he could make a semipermanent change to his adimus energy, something that he could maintain subconsciously.

He sat on the floor in the empty manor and meditated for ten minutes before he felt that he was ready. He was able to flow his adimus energy throughout his body in a continuous pattern and then make the adjustments so that he would appear invisible both to the physical eye and in the mentant realm. As he stepped outside, he saw Harsale and Ashley’s speech, and he stared in awe for several minutes before remembering he needed to go.

The streets of Weaver’s Road were quiet and empty as the invisible Melvin made his way back to the translift and found the poll that would take him closest to the battle which was just starting when he arrived.

Realizing that he could get accidentally trampled if he tried to exit the gates with the soldiers, Melvin decided to head up to the top of the ramparts which were far less crowded. He sat on the wall, far from the others, watching the progress of the battle in quiet consternation. How would he ever be able to get to Davron? He was constantly surrounded by monsters.

I really hope Ashley is able to get the book, he thought to himself. He had no idea what he was going to do.

Minutes passed and still Melvin waited, the barrier finally came down and he saw the hoard of monsters rush forward. Davron, however, was still far back on the battlefield and seemed reluctant to engage. Suddenly, two rockwalkers stepped forward and stomped their foot, causing an earthquake that once again split the ground. Knowing that he was potentially in danger, Melvin leapt off the parapet and started for the stairs, but he wasn’t alone. Several other soldiers seemed intent on escaping before the cracks hit the wall and he was buffeted about, unable to make his presence known even when he shouted. There was just too much pandemonium.

The wall began to rumble and fall apart and before Melvin could make it all the way down, the section he was on collapsed and he fell with it.

***

Melvin didn’t know how long he’d been out, but when he woke, he was covered in rubble and fully visible again. This was actually fortunate considering it meant that no one accidentally trampled on his unconscious body. He was just inside a gaping hole in the wall, which was covered by a mandamus safe shield that was keeping monsters from entering. He looked around to find Karmandrian and Pathos nearby, fighting off pogs.

He slowly picked himself up just as Karmandrian used wind mandamus to repel the pogs. Seeing an opening, Melvin rushed in to speak to them. “Where is everyone?”

Pathos seemed shocked to see him. “Where did you come from? What happened to you? Mittius Resepco Melvin.”

Melvin felt all his wounds heal and the ache in his body waned. “Thanks. Where are the others?” he asked again.

“Most of them left, but Daniel is still up there,” Pathos pointed quickly to the ramparts before pushing Melvin out of harm’s way and swinging his sword at an incoming pog.

Realizing he was doing more harm than good by distracting the guardian, Melvin ran for an intact staircase that led to the top of the partially destroyed walls. He dodged and weaved through battles, avoiding monsters as much as he could, but no one seemed to take much notice of him. Once he made his way up the stairs, he found Daniel and Honsmordin surveying the land outside the city. From the ramparts, he could see multiple deep gashes in the earth where it had been split open by the rockwalkers, and there were still hundreds of monsters trying to break through.

“Melvin?” Daniel said in shock when he saw him. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s hard to explain, but where is everyone, what’s going on?” Melvin asked frantically. “I don’t see Davron anywhere.”

“Jandor and the others are racing to where Ashley is, somewhere near the east gate. Davron took a huge chunk of his monster army around the outer wall of the city to intercept them,” Daniel explained quickly.

Melvin swore in frustration. “I’ve got to get to them.”

Daniel shrugged. “They left a while ago on those wolves Stephanie brought. They could be there already and Davron’s monsters move fast. I don’t know how you’re going to catch up.”

Undeterred, Melvin ran along the ramparts until he reached the corner where the northern and eastern walls met. Though it was impossible for him to see far in the dark, he could sense something in the mentant realm miles away and suspected that it was Davron’s army, since that was the only thing large enough that could be sensed from that far away. Running would be futile, so he saw only one option.

He took a deep breath, blocking out the sounds of battle, and let his adimus energy flow through him. Even though he felt rushed and panicked, he’d done this so many times that he was still able to accomplish it after a few seconds. He then opened his mind wide, pointed his body so that he was facing the empty ramparts of the eastern wall, and activated spatial motion.

He could only maintain it for a fraction of a second, barely more than an instant, but it was enough. When he stopped, he found himself yards away from where Davron’s rockwalkers had destroyed part of the east wall. He immediately ducked low so as not to be spotted.

His heart was racing, and he took a few deep steadying breaths. He could clearly hear Becky talking below him but again he blocked out everything so that he could focus on what he needed to do. He wouldn’t have the time needed to make the imperception semipermanent like before, so he settled for using the temporary version that he had to consciously maintain.

Tabatha’s cool clear voice rang out. “Dear, she’s baiting you. All she’s trying to do is stall for time.”

Melvin immediately understood. There was no way Becky could know where he was, but she was stalling to give him time, and he couldn’t waste this opportunity. He rushed down the nearby stairs as fast as possible, focusing only on his imperception and the task at hand. He barely registered Jandor and the other’s arrival, his eyes only on his target, Davron. Because there was already so much going on, he didn’t have to worry about being too quiet. He only made sure he didn’t alert anyone to his presence by kicking something or bumping into one of the creatures that surrounded the group.

As he approached, Tabatha shouted something, which made Melvin jump, thinking he was spotted, but a second later, Tabatha had Becky by the throat, lifting her off the ground. Melvin knew he only had seconds to act as he approached Davron from behind. Reaching out his hand he grabbed the book and used a small amount of mentus on Davron’s arm so that he wouldn’t immediately feel the weight leave him.

Melvin knew he couldn’t go too far since he had no time to extend his imperception to the book, and it would look odd if people saw it floating away, so he settled for just taking a few steps back, eyeing Davron’s quickener as he did to make sure he didn’t notice.

He could feel his right-hand tingling and instinctively knew it was the seal’s power reacting to the Book of War. The book also seemed to be reacting to him, the red emblem on the front glowing faintly, but he didn’t know exactly what he was supposed to do. Simply taking the book from Davron hadn’t done anything to the monsters. He turned it over frantically to hide the faint glow of the emblem and then he saw it, the same symbol of a cross in a circle burned into the lower right-hand corner of the book. Not knowing anything else to do, he pressed his right hand on that symbol and immediately there was a bright flash of golden-yellow light.

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***

Tabatha screamed in pain. Something about the energy of the seal seemed to cause a reaction in her as the entire area was bathed in its light. It took everything she had to regain control of her body as she drew on the well of power within her to overcome the crippling effects of the seal.

It was then she saw Melvin kneeling on the ground over the Book of War, just a few paces behind Davron. How had she missed him?

“Get him; he has the book!” she shouted, but there were no monsters nearby to respond.

“Lady Ellonous!” Gamdon ran down the pile of rubble to reach them. He was pointing frantically at Davron, who’d dropped to his knees, the crystal in his mind mage scepter glowing brightly.

Realizing that everything had fallen apart in a matter of seconds, Tabatha reacted with maddening speed. She extended a hand to her husband, her aura palpable again as she siphoned off the energy returning to him from the thousands of monsters that had been destroyed. She then pointed her other hand at Melvin and, using her body as a conduit, shot a burst of pure energy at him, blasting him far away from the book and knocking him unconscious.

The others had been momentarily stunned, but seeing this, Jandor, Derrick, Lori, and Ace rushed forward to stop her, but she turned the concentrated energy blast in their direction.

Wayne was quick to react. “Mittius Mentenus Safe.”

A green aura appeared like a wall between the two groups, absorbing the blast of energy just in time.

Gamdon scooped up the Book of War and rushed to Davron’s side just as Tabatha finished expelling the excess energy. She looked weak and haggard. Between fighting off the supernal energy of the seal and siphoning off Davron’s excess to then turn into a weapon, she’d used every ounce of her stamina to keep them safe. Davron was panting, but Tabatha’s timely rescue had kept him from passing out, or even possibly dying, from the energy overload.

Gamdon looked around, taking in their new situation. The two groups now stared at each other through Wayne’s safe barrier. “Sir, all the creatures are gone,” he reported quietly, though his voice carried. “It’s possible even the others in the city were destroyed; that light reached quite far.”

Davron scowled. “So, this was your plan.”

Becky was back on her feet and standing next to Jandor, arms folded and a pleased look on her face. “Are we just going to stand here and stare at each other?”

“Do you think this is over?” Tabatha said vehemently. “You haven’t won anything.”

Mrs. Guardman stepped to the front of the group. “Tabatha, it’s time to end this. It’s not too late to turn back and choose a different path. You don’t belong with them.”

“And where would I go? Back with you?” she scoffed. “Even if you’re willing to take me back, do you honestly think they are? You think the Fantasmal Government is just going to turn a blind eye to treason?”

“Better to face some consequences than to die in a pointless war,” Mrs. Guardman pleaded.

“You’ve been constantly telling us that we shouldn’t be fighting in this war, but here you are, right in the middle of it,” Becky added. “I can’t say that we can forget everything and be friends again, but if you come back now, we’ll at least try to get them not to punish you too harshly.”

“You’ve seen what Mrs. Guardman is capable of when she’s serious,” Ace added.

“I doubt you’ll want them to go lenient on me, especially since I put a sword through your little guardian girlfriend,” Tabatha revealed, her tone flat. “Maybe you should be more worried about her fate than mine.”

“What!” Ace shouted, looking shaken.

Ben put a hand on his shoulder. “She’s just trying to rile you. There’s no way she killed Alice; she’s a guardian.”

“Tabatha, stop this; it’s over. You guys lost; let’s just end it here.” Jandor said.

Davron shook his head slowly, a smirk on his face. “You think it’s over? You may have figured out some way to kill my creatures again, but all you’re doing is delaying the inevitable. I still have thousands of creatures at Fantasmal Mountain and can make more anytime I want. You barely hung on in this battle, your barrier’s gone, and your forces are depleted. What’s to stop me from immediately bringing the rest of my army here and finishing what I started?”

“I am!” came a familiar voice.

Everyone turned to see Fantasma standing several paces behind Davron on the large pile of rubble, the light of the yellow moon illuminating him from behind.

He’d arrived at the city with Isabelle minutes earlier and made contact with Honsmordin just before the bright flash of supernal energy wiped out all of the monsters. He then took off toward the source of the light using his considerable mentus to increase his speed tenfold. A second after his arrival, Isabelle appeared with Honsmordin, Karmandrian, Pathos, and Daniel, having used quickening to catch up to him.

At his sudden appearance, Tabatha’s aura immediately grew strong again, as if anticipating an attack, and Davron tapped his scepter on the book that Gamdon was still holding, causing a dozen pogs to appear and surround the three of them.

Fantasma scowled at them but did not approach. “You may have seized my mountain, but trust me, your occupancy will be short lived. However, until I return to reclaim what’s mine, be warned: if you choose to attack this city again, I am what stands in your way.”

Davron looked mutinous, but Gamdon tugged at his robe sleeve. “Sir, we should go; we’re not in an advantageous situation.”

Davron nodded. “Very well, Fantasma, you and your seal bearers can revel in your little victory but know this: from now on it is Lord Davron and not the Fantasma that sits at the top of world government, and soon every city and country will be swearing their fidelity to the Ellonous Empire. The new era has already begun, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”

With that, Gamdon tapped his staff on the ground and disappeared with Tabatha, Davron and the recently summoned pogs.

Wayne dropped his safe shield and Jandor immediately ran forward. “We shouldn’t have let them get away,” he said with a frustrated growl.

Mrs. Guardman sank to her knees, emotionally exhausted. “We have to get Tabatha back,” she muttered. “I won’t lose her.”

Fantasma descended the pile of rubble. “I understand your frustration, but Davron is not wrong. If he wanted to, he could have summoned more monsters and kept the battle going. If he truly has thousands of creatures at his disposal, we could risk the needless death of many more. For right now, it’s enough that he’s gone and will likely not come back anytime soon. We need to take this time to rest and recover.”

“Fantasma’s right,” Becky agreed. “Those monsters can fight forever, we can’t. Everyone is exhausted plus we need to find the others and help anyone who’s injured.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Jandor nodded reluctantly. “So, what’s next?”

Becky looked around furtively. It was only now that she was able to fully process everything that happened. “A lot of people were hurt in that explosion.” Her eyes fell on Bernie, half buried in the rubble. He’d managed to use a mentus barrier to protect her but ended up caught in the blast himself. “I don’t know if—”

“They’re all okay,” Ace revealed. “We just need to revive them. Melvin too; he got hit hard, but he’s still alive.”

“I’ll make sure everyone is recovered,” Wayne said. “We also need to find the Sun Stone. Franklin had it last, but I think it got buried in the explosion.”

“I’ll help,” Karmandrian volunteered, and he started using mandamus to clear the debris.

Becky breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, good. We need to send people back to Council Hall to find out what happened with Alice and the others.”

Jandor turned to the blanca wolves. “Ace can you and Lori go?”

“I’ll come too,” Pathos added.

“Stephanie, you and Derrick find Alyson,” Jandor continued.

“And then go to the Warrior Guild to get the others,” Becky added.

Pathos mounted the wolf that Jandor was no longer using, then the five of them took off in their respective directions.

Wayne and Karmandrian were steadily finding and healing those who’d been injured or rendered unconscious by Davron’s surprise attack. Fortunately, like Bernie, some of the soldiers had erected a makeshift mentus barrier to keep the explosion from doing more damage.

After Wayne found and revived Amber, he hugged her tightly. “I was so worried about you,” he said tearfully. “Why did you do that? I would’ve been fine. A blast like that’s not going to kill me now that I’m apparently a guardian. I would’ve been knocked out at most, but you could’ve gotten killed.”

Amber was still groggy and seemed stunned at how emotional Wayne was. “You had Ashley with you. If you were knocked out, then you wouldn’t have been able to keep her safe.” She hugged him back gingerly. “I’m supposed to have your back, right?”

Wayne was amazed at her thought process. “Yeah,” he said finally as he pulled away, “but big brothers are supposed to protect their little sisters, remember?”

She chuckled. “Well, it can work the other way around sometimes.”

Nearby, Karmandrian helped Franklin to his feet. “Are you all right, Chief?”

“Yes, I think so.” Franklin said after taking a moment to compose himself

“I found this in the rubble,” Karmandrian said as he handed him the Sun Stone.

“Good work. I see the Fantasma’s here, I guess I must have missed a few things.”

“I’m not sure about everything that happened either, but they managed to beat Davron, well at least for now I guess.” Karmandrian shrugged. “Honestly, it feels more like a stalemate. It doesn’t seem like we’ll ever be able to completely beat Davron.”

“Unfortunately, this is the nature of war. We won’t snatch victory in just one battle; however, this will prove to be a crucial turning point, of that I am sure,” Franklin said sagely.

Karmandrian nodded at this. “I’m beginning to realize that there is far more to all of this than I truly understood. I’ve been looking at things one battle at a time, instead of seeing the bigger picture, and it’s made me hesitate a lot, but not anymore. What you said to Fantasma earlier, about this marking a new era, I truly understand that now, and I have to help make that happen.”

Franklin gave him a warm smile. “That’s good to hear, young guardian, and I believe you will. We’re both a part of all of this and must help these young seal bearers in any way that we can.”

Karmandrian gave a slight bow before leaving to help Wayne with reviving the other unconscious soldiers. Franklin went to where Fantasma, Honsmordin, Jandor, and Becky were all discussing the events of the night.

“We’ll definitely need to have a brief meeting when everyone gets back to the manor,” Becky said as she ended her summary. “I know people are exhausted, but there are things that can’t wait.”

“Let’s tell Wayne and the others and head back.” Jandor put a hand on Becky’s shoulder and they both walked off.

“Well, it seems things were well in hand in my absence,” Fantasma said quietly to his two staff members.

“More than you know, sir,” Honsmordin said with a hint of pride in his voice. “They accomplished quite a lot.”

“There is still much we must tell you,” Franklin added, “but I will say this: we were right to put our faith in them. They’ve more than proven themselves.”

“I see; well if the young seal bearers plan to meet again, I think we should attend. I’ll have Isabelle bring a few guardians to patrol the city. We also need to find accommodations for the night for our people.”

Honsmordin nodded. “I’ll take care of it, sir.”

As Fantasma and Honsmordin walked off, Salov approached his uncle with Lizzy on his back. She’d been so exhausted after the chaotic day that she was fast asleep. Wayne, Ashley, Amber, and Mrs. Guardman were close behind him.

“I’m going to head to the manor and put her to bed,” he told Franklin, indicating the sleeping girl on his back.

“I’ll walk with you,” Franklin said as he handed over the Sun Stone to Ashley.

As the small group made their way through the streets of Weaver’s Road, they passed by many weary fighters who were also headed to their respective homes. All of them, without exception, stopped to hail Ashley in some way. Some bowed, some thanked her, and others chanted the refrain “God Bless the Daughter of the Sun.”

“They all seem so happy,” Ashley said sadly, “even though so many people died, all because of me.”

“That’s not how they see it,” Franklin told her. “To them, they have won a victory. They defended their town, the five-thousand-year legacy of Weaver’s Road remains, and they see it as all thanks to you.”

“But I didn’t do anything,” Ashley said. “I couldn’t even get the Book of War. Melvin had to do that.”

“We rarely feel the impact we make in the moment,” Mrs. Guardman said sagely, remembering when those same words were spoken to her, “but I’m sure you will soon.”

“Indeed,” Franklin nodded. “I guarantee that the story of what happened tonight will spread rapidly across the four continents. What we did here will be seen as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world, for on this day the Daughter of the Sun and the Twelve Warriors of legend returned to stand against the Book of War once again.”

Wayne sighed. “It sounds really epic when you put it like that, but the truth is: we still have a long way to go before this is over.”

Ashley nodded at this, and the group continued in contemplative silence toward the translift that would take them to the district that held Salov’s manor.